Natural Selection 2

OptimizationSped up server start times by pre-computing hashes for files for consistency checking

ImprovementIt is no longer possible to spam console commands on the ClientSound effects are now entity based and inherit the relevancy of their triggering entityAdded custom HUD indication for exosuit thrustersBy default, the consistency configuration file will include all file types except UI textures and View Model assetsAdjusted phase gate engagement point so hydras and other AI units less likely miss their attacksThere is now a warning before auto-concede ends the roundAuto-concede will not kick in for the first few minutes of a round

ChangeOnly 2 mods will download at a time on the Client while connecting to a ServerAdded 1 second cool down to scan to prevent spamMods downloaded while connecting to a Server are no longer deleted when you exit the game

EditorWireframe/show-edge rendering should be much faster - fixed some inefficienciesWith the line/rect/circle tool, you can now hold CONTROL to ignore existing geometry. Ie. you can create boxes inside rooms without exiting the room.If anything is selected and a rect/line/circle is active, those will only modify selected stuffCORRECTION: By default, geo tools will not edit non-selected geometry. Hold CONTROL to edit non-selected geo.Double-clicking faces should now select orphaned edges as well

SDKCreated new streamlined mechanisms in LaunchPad for creating and publishing modsMade it possible for multiple people to work on a mod that is managed by LaunchPadPrivate is now the default publishing optionFixed issue where string material parameters could not be set on a RenderModelFixed bug where gettign the coordinates of attachment point point in a model with no bones would give the wrong resultAdded the ability to specify the target texture size for a cameraFixed bug where "angles" network fields were inaccessible from scriptFixed crash when calling Shared.LinkClassToMap twice with the same map nameFixed "reload" parameter in Script.Load() function in NS2Fixed issue where dofile and loadfile would not use the engine file systemAdded support for game://, config://, temp://, and cache:// style file names in Shared.GetMatchingFileNames

Reduced extractor death and Spikes tracer effect intensity.Distress beacon sound has no longer a distance restriction.

Feature

Added capturing of dump information from the TechSupport.exe tool if NS2.exe is running.Clicking an already selected hot group will cause the view to jump to the units position.

Fix

Fixed runtime error that occurred sometimes on map change.Fixed bug where AI units could push each other off of pathable ground.Fixed a bug where the microphone is muted until you enter sound options menu.Reload sounds stop playing when a player drops a weapon or dies.Fixed medpacks being created under tech points.Fixed Commander double clicks preventing single click actions from being performed.Fixed bug where vortexed Marines / Exos take damage inside Gorge tunnels.Fixed bug where distress beacon could teleport Marines back to an already destroyed Command Station.Commanders are no longer able to see projectiles from units which are not sighted.Fixed bug where vortexed Exosuit can smash eggs.Fixed bug where Commanders select/deselect units unintentionally the moment they perform an action (cast enzyme, drop medpack)Fixed rookie status drawn in red in the scoreboard.Fixed bug where you could switch weapons during building.The camera will no longer jitter while waiting to spawn at an Infantry Portal due to players running over the IP.Fixed bug where dead players could trigger taunt voice over.Fixed resource towers / command structures being slightly offset on the minimap.

Added fps console command to toggle displaying the framerate on the top left of the screen.Improved precision of marquee and Ctrl-Click selection.Improved med/ammo pack drop precision.Its now easier to give attack / defend orders on moving targets.Changed the default player limit on the server if no parameter is specified to 16.Steam Ids are now also displayed in the traditional format in the Server console (STEAM_0:1:XXXXXXX)Changed the scoreboard font to match the other in-game fonts.Added numbers in front of player names on scoreboard to facilitate communication.Its now easier to hit with parasite (thanks Matso!)

Added Class_Reload(className, networkVars) for easier overriding classes.Added loading of entry points for multiple mods (see lua/entry/readme.txt for more info)Created simplified sound system that allows sound files to be played without using FMOD projects.Client.PlayMusic now requires a the FEV project name as part of the cue name (e.g. sound/NS2.fev/Main Menu instead of Main Menu)ClientUI.lua is now more moddable with exposed functions to add more UI scripts.Removed support for TTF fonts (bitmap fonts should be used instead)

Refinery

Moved Containment hive to a less snipeable position.Adjusted cover in Containment in aliens favour.Added vent from Containment to Containment/Chasm Entrance, and vent from Chasm to Chasm/Turbine entrance to provide more flanking opportunity in the area.Added cover at exit of vent over the chasm in Chasm.Adjusted Turbine cover to prevent sniping from Conduit entrance.Added random spawns for both teams in Flow Control, Smelting, Turbine and Containment, with close spawning prohibited.

Mineshaft

Rotated Deposit tech point around so it is no longer able to be arced from central drillingModified Repair tech point with better cover and fewer LOS issuesModified Cave tech point with more cover for the hive, as well as made the middle path leading into crusher cystable for easier expansion to the resource node.Modified Operations tech point for better cover also moved the resource node away from the wall so aliens can move behind itModified Sorting tech point for better cover, also added a stairway on the north side, to make cysting into north tunnels much simplerMoved cavern resource node to be centered between the repair and cave tech pointsMoved pilot drill resource node to be centered between repair and operationsModified central drilling to have better cover for aliens, moved the southern resource node to the north, on the upper platform, also added a stairway on the southwest side for better accessibility to the gapModified and extended the vent leading from cave to north tunnelsAdded a vent from Deposit to the GapAdded more cover for aliens in CrusherModified the minimap to be easier to navigate in places that overlapped or were unclear

Descent

Temporarily disabled the music in Club due to a bug(should be fixed for the next patch)

Natural Selection 2 is an immersive, multiplayer shooter that pits aliens against humans in a strategic and action-packed struggle for survival. It seamlessly combines a shooter/FPS gameplay with a strategy (RTS) game.

If you already have Steam installed, click here to install or play Natural Selection 2. If you don't have Steam, you can download it here.

Here’s a cautionary tale, and a stark reminder that digital goods are still the World Wide Wild West. While a majority of PC games these days seem to ultimately involve a Steam key (which is itself an understandably controversial state of affairs), ownership of one of those keys can be sold by any number of third parties. So we see online stores both reputable and troublesome striving to offer downloads for less than a direct Steam activation, less than each other and, most commonly, less than the frequently outrageously inflated official pricing in some territories. Such was (and presumably is) the case for Natural Selection 2. Revealed developer Unknown Worlds yesterday, “Recently, a batch of 1,341 NS2 Steam keys were purchased using stolen credit cards. These keys were then offered for sale by various resellers. The owners of said cards disputed the transactions, and thankfully received their money back.”

Thankfully for them, but less thankfully for a) Unknown Worlds and b) the people who had bought the keys.

In the battle that is the shipping of a big patch, we do our best to achieve total victory. The bane of our development lives is the hotfix. Hotfixes are horrible. They suck up disproportionate amounts of development time, they are inefficient uses of development resources, and just generally suck.

But try as we might to avoid them, sometimes they are needed. Gorgeous needed one, and here it is! 241 is small and wont make big differences to the way you play. It will fix some hidden nasties that snuck out it the Server process, and some bugs causing consternation to people using babblers, wall jump, and fullscreen windowed mode.

At their release, Babblers were a little bit useless. This uselessness boiled down to the fact that they were too slow to keep up with their host Gorge, catch friendly players hit by the baitball, and close distance with marines. Now, they are much faster, and much more useful.

Winrates in Gorgeous have been exceptionally good. After 25,798 games (on Sunday), the probability of a marine win in a randomly sampled game was 0.507, our best result yet, and a big improvement on build 239′s ~0.41. However, some of this improvement came from a bug causing Skulks to lose momentum when they hit the ground. That is fixed in 241, so we expect the probability of marine wins to decrease back below 0.5 for now.

Servers will update over the next hour or so, so if you cant find games at the moment, sit tight. Here is the full changelog:

Fixed bug that prevented an Alien from evolving if they had Babblers attached to themselves.Eliminated uninitialized data when sending packets with strings less than the maximum length (may cause problems with some firewall rules)Fixed exploit which allowed Gorge tunnels to be build outside of the map.Fixed bug which caused Skulks to lose all their momentum instantly when touching the ground.Fixed bug where mines were ignoring damage falloff.Fixed bug where Alien attacks got blocked by attached Babblers.Fixed bug where fullscreen windowed mode forced vsync on.Changed the maxfps console command to only allow values above 30 FPS to prevent exploitation

Optimization

Reduced overhead of isa method.Improved server performance.Reduced the cost of updating entities in the query manager.